Off Putting
by ncfan
Summary: Even Artanis had to be disturbed by her uncle's request.


I own nothing.

* * *

Artanis was still a young elleth, though nearing what the Eldar would consider adolescence, and she had managed to convince most of the people around her that she was quite thoroughly the undisputed queen of disconcerting and off-putting behavior.

Perhaps that needed some clarification.

It seemed to Artanis that the whole world was a cage fashioned to stifle her voice, her breath, her very life. It seemed to her that she was meant to be quiet, and keep out of sight, and always behave in a certain way lest she break some invisible wall whose dimensions she could not discern. Who knew what behaving spontaneously would bring?

At the same time, Artanis was starting to get visions. Not visions of great calamity, and not on a regular basis, but she would be struck with flashes of foresight from time to time, a sense of what meal would be served the next day or what a sibling or cousin would say to her the next time they spoke, and this was not always easy for her to deal with. It was disorienting; she would feel dizzy after a vision, and for the next few hours it would seem to her as though the world was a flat painting, rather than a place of depth and contour.

So there needed to be some sort of outlet.

Artanis only ever employed this sort of behavior on people she liked, usually restricted to her siblings and cousins. If she was speaking to someone she disliked, or an adult (she felt it would be sensible to behave normally around adults), she would be her normal self: calm, intelligent, and completely rational. However, about the others, they could expect something a bit different.

Sometimes Artanis would _pretend _to have visions of great calamity, involving one of her siblings or cousins (usually Aikanáro or Turukáno), and set them on tasks in order to lift the doom from their shoulders. It was anyone's guess as to whether or not she would be believed, and in any event, Artanis did not set them to do anything too weighty if they did believe her. This was meant to be in good fun, and would _stay _in good fun, even if she happened to be irritated with the tasked Elf at the time.

On other occasions, Artanis would refuse to speak. At all. Findaráto was especially fond of playing this game with her; he would do all manner of odd and silly things in order to try to make her speak, or at least laugh. Findaráto took it in stride, but others could find themselves exasperated; Irissë in particular, who did not like to be ignored any more than Artanis did, would only try this for a few moments before throwing her hands up in frustration and heading on, looking for Turukáno or Tyelkormo.

Another favorite of Artanis's was to don a black cloak and attempt to sneak up on people. This game she would occasionally play on household servants, until her father caught wind of it and bade her cease. Not to be outdone, when he was aware that she was on the prowl, Angaráto would do the same, and they would roam their home attempting to sneak up on each other, and never quite managing to do so without tipping the other off.

All these games and others Artanis would play, both to relieve her own boredom and sense of claustrophobia, and perhaps as a way to show affection to those of whom she was fond. Artanis was not one for expressing affection through what was considered typically feminine avenues; she did not appreciate being touched or having to touch others without great need.

And then, there was the house of her uncle Fëanáro.

She has no quarrel with Fëanáro's sons. Artanis was fond of most of them, even if they were all of them hot-tempered (though to varying degrees), though she did not get on particularly well with Tyelkormo or Carnistir. She was fond also of Nerdanel, who had a self-possessed, practical nature that Galadriel found agreeable, and Ilmanis, Makalaurë's wife, currently Fëanáro and Nerdanel's only daughter-in-law, who seemed at times overwhelmed by the family she had married into and for the most part kept quiet.

No, the trouble lied with Fëanáro himself.

Artanis had never liked him. He was short with her father, her uncle Nolofinwë, her aunts Findis and Lalwen, and with Grandmother Indis, all of whom she loved dearly, and none of whom had ever done anything to Fëanáro to warrant such treatment. He was hot-tempered, quick to take insult and slow to forgive, and whenever Artanis looked upon him she had a strong and dark sense of foreboding, of some great doom over the horizon, the closest she ever came to having visions of calamity. This man would be the ruin of their people eventually. Artanis had no solid grounds on which to base this opinion, but then as far as she was concerned, Fëanáro had no solid grounds on which to base his dislike of his siblings or Grandmother Indis.

Then, there came the day that Uncle Fëanáro asked Artanis for a lock of her hair.

It was at a family gathering; Fëanáro may or may not have been in his cups when he asked her that, but either way, Artanis did not care. Here was the rub. While Artanis was the undisputed queen of disconcerting and off-putting behavior, she was still at her core a rational, good-natured person who wished few anything but well. And while she was quite thoroughly acquainted with off-putting behavior, even she had to be disturbed by her uncle's request.

_No,_ she said to him, a tad more strongly than she usually did, but frankly the words that had come out of Fëanáro's mouth were drawing a crowd and she wanted there to be no ambiguity about what her opinion on this subject was.

However, either because he was in his cups or because he simply did not care that his niece was looking at him as though he was some sort of loathsome beast loosed from the Void, Fëanáro asked again. Twice. Her answer was the same. _No and no. You certainly may not have even a strand of hair from my head! What would you even do with it?! _He had proceeded to curse her as an obstinate child and stormed out.

Neither her parents nor her brothers ever dared to bring the topic up with her afterwards; as far as Artanis knew, her entire family, all of which were present and witness to this event, preferred to behave as though this incident had never occurred. Just as well; Artanis would not have consented to discuss it with anyone.

Fëanáro despised her ever after, never again to speak a civil word with the younger of his two nieces. That was fine and well by Artanis. She never again wished to speak a civil word with him either.

* * *

Artanis—Galadriel  
Aikanáro—Aegnor  
Turukáno—Turgon  
Findaráto—Finrod  
Irissë—Aredhel  
Tyelkormo—Celegorm  
Angaráto—Angrod  
Fëanáro—Fëanor  
Carnistir—Caranthir  
Makalaurë—Maglor  
Nolofinwë—Fingolfin


End file.
